vessels have spread out from their home once again,
seeking to establish trading routes and political connec-
tions, as well as to learn what has changed of the world
in their century of absence.
The Lake of Steam. Far to the south and east of the
Sword Coast, the Lake of Steam is more accurately
an inland sea, its waters tainted by volcanism and un-
drinkable. Around its perimeter is a conglomeration of
city-states and minor baronies typified by the shifting
domains known as the Border Kingdoms. Here, along
the southern shore of the lake, explorers and fortune
seekers squander their amassed wealth building cas-
tles, founding communities, and drawing loyal vassals
to them-only to have all those good works disappear
within a generation or two. In some cases, one of these
realms is fortunate to be saved from its inevitable de-
cline by another group of successful adventurers, who
inject enough wealth and wisdom to keep the enterprise
going a few more decades.
Luiren. Long the homeland of halflings and thought
to be the place where their race had its genesis, Luiren
was lost during the Spellplague to a great inundation
of the sea. In the century since that great disaster, the
waters receded, and now stories told by travelers from
the south tell of halfling communities that survived as
island redoubts.
Tethyr. Tethyr is a feudal realm ruled by Queen Anais
from its capital of Darromar. The queen commands
her dukes, who in turn receive homage from the counts
and countesses of the realm, appoint sheriffs over their
counties, and generally maintain order. The farmlands
of Tethyr are abundant, and its markets flow freely with
trade from the Western Heartlands.
Tethyr has seen more than its share of noble intrigue
and royal murder, and adventurers who are native to
Tethyr or merely passing through that land are often
drawn into such plots, either as unwitting accomplices
or as easy scapegoats.
LANDS TO THE EAST
To the east lie many of the older nations of the Realms,
including the Western Heartlands of Faen1n-those civ-
ilizations centrally located on the continent, and thereby
best able to take advantage of trade routes and access to
the Sea of Fallen Stars. As in the North, there are cold
lands to the east, as well as more temperate regions. As
one travels farther from the Sword Coast, one moves
from lands not so different from one's own to places so
foreign they might as well exist on other continents or
worlds-which a few of them actually have done.
Aglarond. The great peninsula of Aglarond juts out
into the Inner Sea, and that body of water and the for-
ests of the Yuirwood define much of the nation's charac-
ter. A realm of humans living in harmony with their elf
and half-elf neighbors, Aglarond has been a foe of Thay
for centuries, in part due to the temperament of its for-
mer ruler, the Simbul. The nation is now ruled by a Sim-
barch Council, which has backed away from open hos-
tilities with Thay. With the restoration of the Weave, the
ongoing changes to the political landscape, and calls for
elven independence within the nation, it is unclear what
REGIONS OF THE REALMS
Just as "the North" describes an area that includes a num-
ber of nations and governments, a number of collective
terms exist for other regions across FaerOn. Not all such
names are used universally, and opinions vary as to which
lands qualify in which groups. Here are some currently
recognized regional groupings:
The Cold Lands: Damara, Narfell, Sossal, and Vaasa
The Heartlands: Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Moonsea,
and Sembia
The Lands of Intrigue: Arnn, Calimshan, and Tethyr, also
known as the Empires of the Sands
The Old Empires: Chessenta, Mulhorand, and Unthersort of place Aglarond will be in a generation's time, ex-
cept that its potential for great change will be realized.
Chessenta. A collection of city-states bound by com-
mon culture and mutual defense, Chessenta isn't truly
a nation. Each city boasts its own heroes, worships its
own gladiatorial champions, and spends as much time
insulting and competing with the other cities as it does
on any other activity. The city of Luthcheq is dominated
by worship of the bizarre deity known as Entropy, while
Erebos is ruled by the latest incarnation of the red
dragon known as Tchazzar the Undying. Heptios con-
tains the largest library in Chessenta, a center of learn-
ing where all nobles aspire to send their children for tu-
toring. That city is looked on with disdain by the people
of Akanax, whose militant contempt for the "fat philos-
ophers" of Heptios is widely known. Toreus welcomes
all visitors, even those from lands that are despised or
mistrusted, and foreign coin can buy nearly anything
there. The floating city of Airspur still flies somehow, its
earthmotes unaffected by the fall of its fellows when the
Sundering came to a close.
Cormyr. For most folk in central Faen1n, the notion
of a human kingdom is inextricably linked to Cormyr.
A strong realm bolstered by its loyal army (the Purple
Dragons), a cadre of magical defenders and investiga-
tors (the War Wizards), and numerous wealthy and in-
fluential nobles, Cormyr is recovering from its war with
Sembia and Netheril-a conflict that cost the nation
much, but left the kingdom standing, and which, in the
end, Netheril didn't survive. The pride of that victory re-
mains strong in Cormyr's collective consciousness, even
as Queen Raedra draws back from plans to permanently
welcome into the realm towns that lie beyond Cormyr's
traditional borders.
Cormyreans are justly proud of their homeland, and go
to great lengths to guard it and its honor. Still, there is no
shortage of danger in the Forest Kingdom, whether from
scheming, treacherous nobles, monsters out of the Hul-
l a ck Forest or the Stonelands, or some ancient, hidden
magic. Corm yr is many things, but dull isn't one of them.
The Cold Lands. The nations of Damara, Narfell, Sos-
sal, and Vaasa, known collectively to most Faerunians as
the Cold Lands, rest near the Great Glacier in the cold,
dry environs of the northeast. Few outside the region
have much interest in what goes on here, except for those
in the immediately surrounding lands, who fear a resur-
gence of the ancient evils of the region-though they ar-